RMNP Rangers bring three climbers from Longs who didn't ask

[atalarico]

Not sure what to make of this one...

http://www.denverpost.com/2016/10/04/rm ... ongs-peak/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So, they got benighted on Broadway after they ran out of water. I've been there and done that after an extremely long day on the Diamond. We just decided that we would continue our descent at first light since we knew we weren't thinking clearly, and that we could easily screw up the last set of raps down the lower east face. We had been on them the previous year, but still, I feel like better judgment prevailed. We endured a shiver bivy (I've had worse) for 4 or so hours and then we were treated to a spectacular sunrise.

Granted, we didn't have winter weather to contend with, but if we were climbing Kieners, we would have had appropriate clothing for alpine ice climbing. I don't think they were in a radically different position from me and my friends, and we definitely didn't need a rescue.

Oh, and the comments, as usual, are absolutely moronic on the Post.

[FireOnTheMountain]

wait. the rangers actually texted the climbers and they replied back they didn't want rescue.....?

what an interesting conundrum this one. I can see both points of view because rangers would have access to weather reports and whatnot but ultimately shouldn't it be the climbers' choice??? Harding and Caldwell definitely thought so but they were pushing the boundaries not climbing an extremely established route.

[AlexeyD]

Not sure what to make of this one...

http://www.denverpost.com/2016/10/04/rm ... ongs-peak/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So, they got benighted on Broadway after they ran out of water. I've been there and done that after an extremely long day on the Diamond. We just decided that we would continue our descent at first light since we knew we weren't thinking clearly, and that we could easily screw up the last set of raps down the lower east face. We had been on them the previous year, but still, I feel like better judgment prevailed. We endured a shiver bivy (I've had worse) for 4 or so hours and then we were treated to a spectacular sunrise.

Granted, we didn't have winter weather to contend with, but if we were climbing Kieners, we would have had appropriate clothing for alpine ice climbing. I don't think they were in a radically different position from me and my friends, and we definitely didn't need a rescue.

Oh, and the comments, as usual, are absolutely moronic on the Post.

Hmm...I dare say that if they were still up there at 2:50 PM the next day, when the rescuers arrived, that kind of puts their ability to self-rescue in doubt.

[atalarico]

Hmm...I dare say that if they were still up there at 2:50 PM the next day, when the rescuers arrived, that kind of puts their ability to self-rescue in doubt.

I'd go out on a ledge and say they were likely told to stay put by the rangers. However, that's a guess, and I guess we don't have all of the info.

Edited so I didn't miss that great pun opportunity.

[AlexeyD]

Hmm...I dare say that if they were still up there at 2:50 PM the next day, when the rescuers arrived, that kind of puts their ability to self-rescue in doubt.

I'd go out on a limb and say they were likely told to stay put by the rangers. However, that's a guess, and I guess we don't have all of the info.

Maybe. Honestly, it's hard to say at this point; all the info we have so far obviously comes from the rangers, would be interesting to hear the other side of the story.

[atalarico]

wait. the rangers actually texted the climbers and they replied back they didn't want rescue.....?

what an interesting conundrum this one. I can see both points of view because rangers would have access to weather reports and whatnot but ultimately shouldn't it be the climbers' choice??? Harding and Caldwell definitely thought so but they were pushing the boundaries not climbing an extremely established route.

Right?! What a pickle.

Also, I think my own situation back in 2011 (maybe it was 2010) would have been vastly improved if we had cell reception! Our significant others contacted SAR to let them know we were overdue. I had a SPOT tracker, and I didn't hit the SOS button. I did hit the "Well, we're in a bind, so stay tuned for either an OK message or an SOS message" button that I programmed, but followed it up with an "OK" once we landed on Broadway for the night.

SAR said the RMNP climbing rangers were aware of us on the Diamond since they could see our two (out of three) functioning headlamps (one failed and it wasn't just batteries). They saw us making downward progress, so they figured we were doing OK, which was true. Sure, we would have given (what remained) of our left testicles for another few liters of water (drank 5), but we weren't going to die if we waited another 6 hours.

Strange situations up there.

[atalarico]

Hmm...I dare say that if they were still up there at 2:50 PM the next day, when the rescuers arrived, that kind of puts their ability to self-rescue in doubt.

I'd go out on a limb and say they were likely told to stay put by the rangers. However, that's a guess, and I guess we don't have all of the info.

Maybe. Honestly, it's hard to say at this point; all the info we have so far obviously comes from the rangers, would be interesting to hear the other side of the story.

Yeah, I agree. I always like speculating, but I also like drawing the line and calling out that it really is just speculating.

I wonder if SAR was getting text messages from them like "Oh, we're fine! Our fingers are white, I'm throwing up with a headache, and my friend thinks he just saw a purple elephant soloing D1 on the Diamond, but we DO NOT NEED A RESCUE!"

Granted, that's exaggerated for comedic purposes, but yeah, I wonder if the texts were indicating that they weren't able to make sound judgments.

[Sugar Madison]

Seems there's two threads going, I posted this over in the other one...

There was a little bit more going on behind the scenes beyond an outright refusal. The party was pretty hypoxic/hypothermic and thought they just needed to figure out the route (that they had been up at least a dozen times before). Spent most of the night looking for the exit move off Kieners. Definitely needed SAR involvement, but I think there was some level of cognitive impairment (which led to confusion) due to the weather/conditions/altitude. (I know one in the party, not someone I would classify as a proud/ego type of person and definitely not worried about the cost of a rescue). As a climber/runner, I found it both interesting and fairly sobering to see how (1) a couple of questionable decisions could go south so quickly and (2) how fast one can be rendered fairly incapacitated, even to a *very* strong athlete.

[atalarico]

Seems there's two threads going, I posted this over in the other one...

There was a little bit more going on behind the scenes beyond an outright refusal. The party was pretty hypoxic/hypothermic and thought they just needed to figure out the route (that they had been up at least a dozen times before). Spent most of the night looking for the exit move off Kieners. Definitely needed SAR involvement, but I think there was some level of cognitive impairment (which led to confusion) due to the weather/conditions/altitude. (I know one in the party, not someone I would classify as a proud/ego type of person and definitely not worried about the cost of a rescue). As a climber/runner, I found it both interesting and fairly sobering to see how (1) a couple of questionable decisions could go south so quickly and (2) how fast one can be rendered fairly incapacitated, even to a *very* strong athlete.

Ah hah! Yeah, I'll bet you were writing that just as I wrote my last post. Good info, and glad they're safe. Hypoxia is no joke and can get the best of us! I was only making light hearted humor because it sounds like they got down OK, so I hope no one takes it the wrong way.

[TallGrass]

This news topic was started earlier ...
http://14ers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?st ... 48#p620148" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[AlexeyD]

Seems there's two threads going, I posted this over in the other one...

There was a little bit more going on behind the scenes beyond an outright refusal. The party was pretty hypoxic/hypothermic and thought they just needed to figure out the route (that they had been up at least a dozen times before). Spent most of the night looking for the exit move off Kieners. Definitely needed SAR involvement, but I think there was some level of cognitive impairment (which led to confusion) due to the weather/conditions/altitude. (I know one in the party, not someone I would classify as a proud/ego type of person and definitely not worried about the cost of a rescue). As a climber/runner, I found it both interesting and fairly sobering to see how (1) a couple of questionable decisions could go south so quickly and (2) how fast one can be rendered fairly incapacitated, even to a *very* strong athlete.

Thank you for the insight!

Out of curiosity, do you have a sense of where they were actually stranded? From the Post article, it sounds like they must have been rescued not far from the Diamond crossover - not Broadway (based on the fact that they were then brought down the north face); this would make sense given what you wrote about them searching for the "exit move".

[atalarico]

From TallGrass's PM to me asking why I started another thread:

Because I'm totally trying to cause problems! IT'S TOTALLY WORKING!

Orrrrr, because maybe I'm a real human being who is fallible, it was an accident? I actually was looking at the forum widget on the main 14ers homepage, and didn't see a thread that was started yet. I saw the article was posted at 10:36am today, so I figured it wouldn't have been a thread yet.

So very incredibly sorry! Please forgive me.

Admins, feel free to merge the threads too.